(What's the Story) Morning Glory?
by the.goal.is.greatness
Summary: We are each other's business; we are each other's magnitude and bond. [Scorpius x Albus] [fluff]


**Title:** (What's the Story) Morning Glory?  
**Genre:** Romance  
**Rating:** T (mostly for some language)  
**Pairing:** Albus x Scorpius  
**Spoilers:** Harry Potter and the Cursed Child  
**Summary:** We are each other's business; we are each other's magnitude and bond.  
**Word Count:** 1,845  
**Warnings:** Fluff

**Disclaimer:** _Harry Potter _and its characters belong to J.K. Rowling. Summary is a quote by Gwendolyn Brooks.

**A/N:** These two are so cute. They remind me of Kit and Ty from The Dark Artifices. I have a hard time imagining anything but fluff from this pairing, the same as with Kit and Ty. So, fluff it is!

* * *

Who's ever idea it was to host an inter-House sleep of was absolutely mad. Scorpius frowned around the Room of Requirement, at the throngs of sixth years milling around, setting up sleeping backs and rummaging through their rucksacks for toothbrushes and hair-ties and pillows and bunny slippers. (He wished he was joking about the bunny slippers, but he could distinctly see the fuzzy pink ears flopping around as Gregory Abott, Hufflepuff extraordinaire, walked jauntily about seemingly without a care, or a straight bone, in his body.)

"Isn't this great!"

He forcibly holds back an eye roll only because he recognizes that chipper voice. "No, Albus, it is not." When he turned and pined his grey eyes on the emerald eyes of his best friend, he was met with a faltering smile that immediately made him feel terrible. "It's amazing." It's a half-assed attempt to salvage Albus' mood, but it makes his smile widen and his eyes brighten again, so Scorpius didn't really care.

"Yeah! I told my da about it and he says it would have been cool to do something like this when he was in school!" They both start heading over to what has been declared as "the Slytherin corner." "But then ma said him and your dad probably would have killed each other."

When Albus laughs, Scorpius chuckles along with him, their father's eternal rivalry so well known that it's practically legendary. It's appalling to Scorpius, who cannot imagine Hogwarts without Albus by his side. But to each his own. If his father wanted to ruin his school years with petty rivalry, that was his business. More Potters or him.

"Are you listening to me?"

He snaps back to the conversation with a jerk. "Yes, of course."

Green eyes give him a side-eyed glance. "What did I say then?"

Rather than answer, he blurts out, "Here's our spot! I call top bunk!"

Albus' face says he's not fooled by the abrupt change of topic, but he lets his glance slide to the bunk beds that Scorpius had staked out yesterday when he took a glance around. "No way! I'm more excited to be here than you, so I get top bunk!"

"That doesn't even make any sense and besides," Scorpius says without thinking, "You're definitely a bottom."

Albus' face goes immediately as red as a tomato and his mouth gapes open. Scorpius blanches as white as a sheet when he realizes what he just said and he struggles for something to say that won't dig him into a deeper whole.

"Well, I don't know what the bloody hell is going on here, but girls get dibs on beds first." A slim figure elbows her way past them and reveals herself to be Ravenclaw Sarah Finnegan, followed demurely by her best friend and fellow bird Sarah Collins.

"Sarahs," Malfoy greets coolly, using the familiar nickname the two of them have become known as. They both start to throw their overnight bags on the set of beds. "What do you think you're doing?"

Finnegan turns to him with a finely arched brunette brow. "Are you deaf? Beds are for girls. Boy get to go camping." She jerks a thumb in the direction of all the commotion closer to the entrance. "So scram." She spins back around and picks up a conversation with Collins about a hair care spell that Malfoy knows for a fact is a hoax, and sets about ignoring he and Albus completely.

Scorpius blinks.

Albus blinks. Then clears his throat. "Um, guess we should find somewhere quiet then, huh Scorpius?"

"Uh, yeah, sure thing." As the two of walked farther towards the back, both of them automatically looking or someplace farther from the rabble, Scorpius felt a shred of awkwardness bloom between them, something that had been happening more and more that he didn't know how to fix.

It was all Albus' fault really. The summer the year they both turned fifteen, their parents had let them stay in one of the Malfoy family homes just the two of them, since they both had decided they were too old for parties. They had the entire weekend to themselves and it was all going perfectly until Albus decided they should go swimming late one night and Scorpius was struck dumb by the sight of his best friend, shirtless and wet, water sluicing down his chest and from his hair, eyes as bright as bloody precious stones and – and – and –

It's beautiful. It's bloody _beautiful_ and suddenly he's questioning every single glance and laugh and smile. Every accidentally brush and bump of hands and shoulders. He cares suddenly zero perfect for Rose Weasley and her fiery hair. All he sees, all he thinks about, is his best friend. All he dreams about is where that water went behind those swimming trunks. He wakes at night aching and reaching out and frustrated with want. A single joke and a sly eye in the hall are enough to make him mad with need. It hits at the most imprecise moments, makes moments of comradery and friendship eel suddenly heavy with something other and more and different.

Even Albus, oblivious Albus, begins to notice. And Scorpius doesn't know how to stop it. He feels the awkward silences, the inappropriate words that sometimes slip out of his mouth without his permission. He sees those green eyes look unsure and feels those slender hands pull away from him. And he hates it.

"Is here okay?"

Scorpius blinks and comes to, glancing at the quiet corner that Albus had somehow attained while he was lost in thought. "Yes, yes this is perfect." Albus beams at him and Scorpius feels his gut clench at the sight. He clears his throat and turns away. "I'll just – " He waves his wand in a haphazardly graceful manner his father had always found _"more Potter than Malfoy"_ and transfigures a few dust mites into sleeping bags, blankets, and pillows. He's always had a particular flair for transfiguration, a simple fact that he felt unnecessary to brag about. But the way it always made Al's eyes spark in admiration makes a flare of _something_ tighten in his chest. He clears his throat to loosen the feeling and gestures at Albus to take first pick.

The next long while is filled with the pair of them shuffling around each other, settling themselves into their respective sleeping bags. Though many of their yearmates had been here for hours already, hanging out and playing games, they had decided to show up what Malfoy called 'fashionably late.' Thus saving themselves the hassle of having to deal with things like the six year-long feud between Erin McCormick (Ravenclaw) and Harold White (Slytherin) about being Headmaster's Favorite. (Sidebar, it was neither of them, but whoever mentioned that to either one of them was usually immediately hexed.) They avoided the always dramatic meeting of Tiberius Lestrange (Slytherin) and Helen Grey (Gryffindor), who had broken up in the most heated, violent screaming match of remembered history two months ago and couldn't be in the same room together without throwing venomous barbs and/or objects at one another. Most of the Huflepuffs were already asleep by know, thank Merlin, so neither did they have to deal with Daisy Rawlins, the most air-headed, ditzy little girl Scorpius had ever spoken to in his life.

So they'd avoided the chaos of the Sixth Years, instead spending the day playing Gobstones in the courtyard and making up their Astronomy homework. It was a much more relaxing way to spend the day and early evening. Now there was nothing to do but settle in and sleep.

But now, settled in side-by-side, with only inches between their sleeping bags, emerald eyes shining at him like verdant lamps, Scorpius isn't sure it was a good idea to come at all. But Al, bless his little Potter heart, doesn't seem to notice anything and treats the moment like any other in their dorm, striking up a conversation about their Potions essay that's due in two days and what they should do over Christmas holidays and if he thought Gregory would every notice that gay-Brandon was in love with him. (Not to be confused with straight-Brandon who was harboring an idiotic crush on their Muggles Studies professor.)

They whisper-talked until both of them were bleary-eyed and blinking, fighting to stay awake. But all around them conversations are lulling into the quiet of sleep, into gentle snores and deep breaths, and finally the two of them nod off as well, facing each other in the dark.

* * *

When Scorpius wakes he knows it is still very early. The only sound is the rustling of sheets. No one is awake yet, so the sun has probably barely begun to rise. It is quiet and calm all around him as he blinks the sleep from his eyes and the world begins to come back into focus.

The first thing he sees is the same thing he fell asleep to last night: Al's absinthe green eyes, shining at him in the dim half-light. He's adorable and sleep rumbled, hair mussed and an outline of his pillow imprinted onto his cheek like a scar. He doesn't think, doesn't stop to contemplate. It is as easy as breath to crane his next forward two, three, four inches, and press their lips together.

When his mind catches up with his body he expects a lot of things. To be shoved away. To be hexed, punched, pushed, yelled at. He doesn't expect the subtle tilt Al makes that all thought fly from his head save one: he was kissing_ Albus. _He was _kissing_ Albus. It was nothing more than a chaste press of lips on lips. They were chapped and both of them needed to brush their teeth. But it was Albus and they were _kissing_.

Right before Scorpius had an existential panic attack about how this would change (ruin) their friendship, Albus made a content little murmur in the back of his throat and pulled away. He blinked up at Scorpius, eyes calm and happy, no thought of breaking off their friendship or killing him or telling his famous father that a Malfoy had taken advantage of him and oh Merlin –

"Good morning." That's all Al said, but it was said with such ardent happiness that Scorpius felt his spiraling thoughts stutter to a halt and fall over like dominos.

He smiled, soft and warm and blissful. "Good morning."


End file.
